Unreal Realities
by Madness Hamster
Summary: Hermione awakes in a hospital to be told the impossible: She made it all up. Hogwarts, Voldemort, her relationship with Ron. none of it was real. but can she trust what the doctors are telling her?
1. Chapter 1

**UNREAL REALITIES**

**Chapter 1: Fighting and Waking**

DISCLAIMER: Yes, ok, i admit it, i kinda stole the plot from an episode of Buffy (i'm a bad bad person) but i think it goes really well in HP world - which i also don't own - and i'm gonna try to put my own little twist on it all.

A/N - hope you enjoy:

* * *

"NO!" Hermione screamed as the Death Eater grabbed her by the hair and lifted her from the ground she lay on. The grass in her front garden was scorched as though the serpents of hell had passed that way.

This gave her a chance to witness the chaos around her.

There was fighting everywhere. It was the last battle and the faces were indistinguishable from one another. The sound of many different spells and curses mingled with the sounds of banging and crashing as people were thrown into things or objects flew across the garden and street beyond. She only hoped that her parents had gotten away safely. When Voldemort attacked the Golden Trio during their holiday at Hermione's house she'd only had time to scream at her parents to run. After that there was no telling what had happened to them.

Ron threw curses at Bellatrix Lestrange, not heeding the blood that ran down his face or the arm hanging twisted and limp at his left side, concentrating on the dark haired witch in front of him. Ginny, sweet Ginny, lay a few feet away from him, eyes shut, a growing pool of blood spreading outwards from the wound just beneath her ribs, she was breathing, but barely.

And Harry. He stood in the middle of it all, exchanging curses with a speed that impressed her, even in the midst of the entropy surrounding them.

With the Death Eater holding her face up she was powerless to stop what was going on. And nor could she turn her head when Voldemort hissed a curse which finally got through to Harry, who crumpled onto the floor.

With Harry incapacitated, Voldemort turned his attention to Hermione. The sounds around her faded to white noise as his red eyes bore into her.

"I admit that you are smart for a mudblood. And so powerful…" he ran a cold finger down her cheek, trailing through her tears.

"Join us." He said simply. "Or suffer the consequences."

Hermione was about to scream at him that she'd die first, when something moved at the corner of her eye and a Death Eater brought into view something which she'd hoped against hope she would never see.

The body of her mother.

Her voice failed her as tears racked her aching body. Her father was dragged struggling into her view and Voldemort lifted his wand till it was pointed at her dad's chest.

"No!" She screamed again. "Please, just leave him alone. Please."

She broke down. But while all eyes were on her, a boy with jet black hair twitched on the ground behind the Death Eaters.

"I'll do anything you want, just leave him alone!" Voldemort lifted his wand triumphantly and pointed it at Hermione.

"Then let's test your loyalty." He started uttering a spell but before the word was finished his knees gave out beneath him and he slid to the ground, mouth still open, wand still pointed. Harry Potter stood at his back, wand raised, aiming at where Voldemort's chest had been only moments before.

The still form of the most evil wizard ever known crumbled into dust as a cleansing wind blew. Harry barely noticed this, however as he ran to the crumpled body of Hermione.

* * *

The lights were blinding. It hurt to open her eyes. But when they finally opened, she was shocked. This wasn't the hospital wing, where was she? Was she in St. Mungo's? What had happened? Had Harry finally defeated Voldemort, or was the vision of him standing, almost glowing with power, behind Voldemort's body merely her own wishful thinking?

She had so many questions but there was no-one to answer them. Panic rose through her as she tried to get off the bed she was lying on, only to realise that she was bound to it somehow.

"Hermione? Darling. Oh thank God you're awake!"

"Mum? Mummy? You're ok? You're not dead!" Her eyes swam with tears as her mothers taut face appeared in her view.

"Oh Hermione." Tears spilled from her eyes, splashing onto the leather straps holding Hermione down.

"What's going on? Mum, what's wrong? What happened to Harry? Did he kill Voldemort? Ron…" Her voice suddenly cracked, "oh, is Ron ok?"

Her mother looked away from her, towards a man entering the cold, sterile room. His shoulder length black hair and hooked nose was familiar to Hermione.

"Professor Snape! Please, tell me, what happened to Ron and Harry? We beat him, right? Harry killed Voldemort?"

"Doctor…" her mother started. Hermione didn't understand, he wasn't a doctor, he was her potion's Professor. "Doctor, why is she still having the delusions? She's awake, she's lucid, she knows who I am. I don't understand?" Her mother sounded puzzled and the tears still hadn't stopped leaking from her eyes.

Snape walked over to Hermione and shone a pen light into her eyes. "Hermione, what is your full name?"

"Hermione Jane Granger. Professor, you know that, I…" He cut her off.

"And who am I Hermione?"

She was confused, they didn't have time for this, she needed to see Harry and Ron. Oh. God, she needed to see Ron.

"You're my potions Professor, Severus Snape."

"Do you know where you are?" Although the expression on his face hadn't changed she could have sworn that she saw a flash of triumph in his eyes when she had uttered his name.

"No, I don't know where I am," anger rose through her, "is this St Mungo's?"

Her mother gave a loud sob and turned away from her.

"Hermione," Snape pulled a chair towards the bed and sat on it so that she didn't have to crane her neck to look at him. It was funny how she hadn't noticed up until now that every bone in her body ached.

"There are a few things that we need to talk about. You are not in St. Mungo's. There is not, in fact, any such place. You are in an asylum for youngsters such as yourself who get confused sometimes."

"Confused?"

"Oh, yes. Now you are under the impression that for the past five years you have been attending a school known as," he checked a white clipboard in his pale hands, "Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, is that correct?"

"Professor, I _have_ been going to Hogwarts. You've taught me for the last five years." She didn't care that she was being insolent to the teacher who intimidated her the most, she just couldn't understand why he was saying these things.

"Actually Hermione, I am not a professor, I am a doctor, and I have been monitoring your progress for 5 years. You have come to recognise me, which is a good sign, however you have also incorporated me into your episodes, making me a character in your delusions."

"Delusions?" Now she was really angry. "I have not been having delusions! Professor, please, Harry can tell you the truth. And so can Ron!"

"I'm afraid that Harry Potter and Ronald Weasley are also mere figments created by your imagination to help you cope with the less pleasant aspects of your reality."

"No! That's not right, that can't be right!" Hermione's voice was rising to an almost hysterical shriek by this time, "No! I remember everything! The troll in the bathroom. The Chamber of Secrets. The Dementors! You're lying to me! Why are you lying to me? I remember hugging Harry. I remember my first kiss with Ron! I remember our first date, he took me to Hogsmeade! I remember…Oh, God, I remember Voldemort. The fight in the garden. Mummy, I remember seeing you and Daddy die."

Unable to speak anymore, she gave herself over to the sobs that racked her body, screaming wordless screams in between breaths.

A nurse rushed in, a hypodermic needle clutched in her hand.

"No, wait." Snape stopped the woman before she could plunge the long shining point into Hermione's skin. "We may be coming to a breakthrough."

"Mrs Granger could you come over here please?"

Hermione's mother walked towards the bed, looking slightly bemused, tear tracks drying on her face.

"Hermione," Snape spoke softly to the crying girl, "Hermione, can you remember what you were doing the day you found out about Hogwarts?"

The question gave Hermione a reason to pause in her weeping to try to bully her unusually sluggish mind into working. "Yes…Dad and I were out in the park, walking," she gave a sad smile, "he was trying to tell me about boys, oh he was so bad at it. He told me that he should have just left the birds and the bees talk to mum. So he took me home and my Hogwarts letter was waiting for me. Why?"

"You never made it home that day, Hermione. There was an…incident…in the park. You're father was stabbed to death by gang members. You hid in some nearby bushes and saw the whole thing. After that incident you started to create a world where you felt safe."

"Safe?" Hermione gave a bitter laugh, "with Voldemort hanging around? It's never safe. You're the one who's delusional professor, not me."

"Then can you explain to me how your mother is standing here beside me, alive and well, when you claimed that this Lord Voldemort killed her before your eyes?"

"I…I can't…This is a trick. Some sort of trick, he's trying to get to me."

"If you mean Lord Voldemort, Hermione, then I believe you said that Harry killed him. How can he be trying to trick you?"

"I don't know." Hermione was getting even more confused now.

Her mother touched her face gently, "Hermione, my darling, please. I just want you to get better. You can feel my touch, I know you can, just hold onto that."

Hermione sobbed once more as her mother removed her hand and stepped back to talk to Snape as the nurse stuck the needle into her arm.

The last thing she heard was Snape talking to her mother, "We believe that this Lord Voldemort was a manifestation within her dreams of the gang who killed her father. Hopefully the fact that he has been defeated within her fantasies means that she has started to come to terms with the death of her father."

Sweet euphoria dragged her under and she slept an untroubled and dreamless sleep

A/N - lemme know wat u think, that's wat the pretty little review box is there for )


	2. Making a Decision

**UNREAL REALITIES**

**Chapter 2: Making a Decision**

DISCLAIMER - I don't own anything you recognise. If i did, i would be sitting on a beach in Miami right now, instead of getting ready to go back to uni in cold windy Scotland.

"Wait, I think she's waking up."

"Well, don't crowd her."

"I'm not crowding her."

"You are, look at you, take a step back, give her some air."

"_You_ take a step back, you're closer than I am."

"Ron…"

"Harry, just leave it, she's almost awake. Hermione? Hermione, can you hear me?"

Hermione groaned as the voices disturbed her sleep. Opening her eyes slowly, she stared up at the red hair and the emerald eyes of the two boys she knew so well.

"Ron?" She croaked out, "You're not dead, you're still here." She smiled sadly.

All of a sudden, the events from the last time she had woken up flooded through her mind.

"You _are_ here aren't you?" She sat up in bed, grateful that she wasn't bound to it this time. Reaching out an arm she laid her hand on his face, feeling the warmth of his skin and, laughing she pulled him towards her, into a hug.

"Hey!" Harry interrupted, feigning indignance, "I know I'm not your boyfriend but a 'hello' would be nice!"

"Sorry Harry," she released Ron, who looked like he would kill Harry for interrupting, just as soon as he could keep his excitement at her hug contained, and drew Harry into a hug too.

"You will _not_ believe the nightmare I just had, Snape was there, and so was my mum…" She trailed off, the smile fading from her face at the mention of her mother. If she was back to reality then that meant her mother was…

"Harry? Ron? Please tell me, are my parents ok?"

The two boys looked at the ground, their faces telling her more than any words ever could.

"No." She sank back on the bed, "no, it's not true."

"Hermione," Harry began awkwardly, "I'm so sorry, I don't know how to tell you, but after Voldemort killed your mum and hit you with that spell, the Death Eaters killed your father before I could get to them. I'm so sorry."

Ron just stood staring at the floor, his eyes burning for the pain he couldn't stop her feeling.

"No, I've just been talking to my mum, she just touched my face. I was talking to her! I was in the hospital and Doctor Snape said…he told me…he told me that you weren't real. I was getting better. I was getting better and then I woke up here." Her voice was a shriek, her two friends were slowly backing away from the bed as she got louder and louder, before Madam Pomfrey came rushing in to the room.

"Really. If you continue to upset her like this, then I'm afraid I will not be able to allow you two to visit her again. She's been through a lot, poor lamb."

Shooing Ron and Harry away, she subdued Hermione long enough to administer her a potion.

Almost immediately, drowsiness overcame her and she sank back into the soft pillows of the bed.

* * *

Which one was real?

Once more, upon waking, Hermione had found herself bound to the bed in what Snape had referred to as 'an asylum'. After opening her eyes briefly, she'd shut them again before anyone had a chance to realise that she was awake. She needed some time to think.

Which reality was real?

There were so many memories she had, so many things that felt so real. How could she have made up Ron? The way his ears turned red when he was embarrassed, what his face looked like when he was anywhere near a spider, how gentle he was when he kissed her.

And that was just Ron. There were a million other things that she couldn't have invented. Harry, Voldemort, Hogwarts, the entire Weasley family, Quidditch, Hogsmeade visits, a million and one incantations and potions.

A solitary tear slid down her cheek. She remembered so many wonderful things, but was she really remembering them?

At the sound of footsteps, she finally opened her eyes, knowing that the tear on her face would give away the fact that she wasn't really asleep.

Her mother and Professor…Doctor…Snape were once more standing beside her.

"Twice in two days," Snape smiled down at her, a rare and scary sight, "this is certainly a very good sign."

"What do you mean?" Hermione whispered. She hadn't noticed before how hoarse her voice was, as though she hadn't used it much, except to scream.

"This is the second time that you have been lucid and able to carry on a conversation. Normally you can go months within your delusions, not noticing or recognising anyone in the room with you. That is why you are strapped to the bed, I'm afraid, you had a tendency to injure yourself and any others who attempted to enter the room. So we are extremely hopeful about a recovery now that you seem to be lucid more regularly than ever before."

"Hermione, darling. You can beat this thing, I know you can. You were always so strong. Please, you're all that I have left. I love you sweetheart." Her mother wasn't crying anymore, a fact that Hermione noticed with relief.

"The Doctors and I have been talking honey," her mother sat beside the bed as Snape exited the room, "and we feel that you're making very good progress. If you keep getting better then they'll let you come home with me. Wouldn't that be wonderful?"

Hermione ignored the slightly patronising tone in her mothers voice and thought about how it would feel to go home with her mother. To be able to talk to her, hug her, argue with her again, like she used to do, before Voldemort…killed her.

"But what about Hogwarts?" She asked, slightly apprehensively.

"Darling, there is no Hogwarts. There never was. Everything you thought you knew about that place was just a…a dream. You just got a bit confused, that's all, but now that you're getting better, you can come home with me. Don't you want that? Don't you want to come back with me? Stay in your old bedroom? Go shopping? We could stay up late watching old movies with popcorn and hot chocolate, like we used to do when your father was on night shift, before this mess began." She sounded wistful, "Don't you want that back? Our old life. Real life."

"But how do I know that this is real life, and that Hogwarts isn't?" She wasn't trying to hurt her mother, but she needed to know. She was getting more confused with every passing second. What her mother was saying sounded so appealing, she wanted all of it back, but that didn't change the fact that she was being told that the past five years of her life was a lie. Worse than a lie. A fantasy.

Her mother didn't say anything, she just reached over and hugged her daughter, planting a soft kiss on her forehead.

"You felt that, didn't you darling?" She asked, once she'd sat back.

Hermione nodded. She could still feel it. Feel her mothers gentle arms wrapped around her, as much as the bed would allow; her lips on her forehead. She could smell her mother's perfume, still lingering on her skin. The coconut smell of her silken hair.

"That's how you know, Mynee," her mother used the pet name she'd had for her ever since Hermione was three and had had trouble pronouncing her own name. "That's how you know that I'm real. Because I'm here and I'm not going to go away. I'm going to stay with you until you get better and then I'm taking you home, where you'll be safe and happy. Besides, there is no such thing as magic. You used to love fairy tales and stories about magic when you were a little girl, but I never dreamed that you would grow up to believe it was true."

"No such thing as magic?" The smell of her mothers perfume still clung to Hermione and she was slowly becoming lost in it, thinking about a future with her mother. Going to a normal school. Making normal friends. Not having to live in fear of a psychopathic murderer who wanted to kill her and everyone she knew.

"That's right sweetheart. There is no such thing as magic." Her mother seemed to sense a change in Hermione and walked sedately to the door to call for Dr. Snape, Hermione's eyes watching her.

Which was more difficult to believe: the thought that she'd been crazy for five years after witnessing something terrible; or the thought that she'd spent the past five years at Hogwarts, fighting off curses and dark creatures, fighting a battle which culminated in the murder of her parents before her eyes.

She had a choice. One parent or none.

She didn't give Dr. Snape a chance to say anything as he entered the room. "What do I have to do to get better?"

A smile lit up her mothers face and once more there was a flash of something indefinable in Snape's eyes.

"It's very simple Hermione. You merely have to eliminate the people who play the main parts in your fantasies." He looked down at his ever-present clipboard.

"That means that you have to kill Harry Potter, Draco Malfoy, Ginevra Weasley, and Ronald Weasley. And burn down Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry."

A/N - I'm depressed from my exams! Cheer me up! Leave me a review! Please )


	3. Acceptance

**UNREAL REALITIES**

**Chapter 3: Acceptance**

DISCLAIMER: As if it were ever in doubt, I don't own Harry Potter, or anything affiliated with Harry Potter. And, before you ask, Yes, that fact does depress me slightly. As does the fact that I don't have the massive fortune that accompanies the ownership of Harry Potter.

A/N – just want to say thanks to my reviewers so far, glad you liked the first couple of chapters :-)

* * *

"Kill them?" She asked weakly.

"Yes. It's the only way to be sure. You must understand that while these characters and this place exist within your mind there is a possibility that they can overwhelm you again. These are not real people. You must remember that. They were created by _you_, therefore they must be destroyed by you."

Snape was talking but all Hermione could focus on was her mother's face. Could she really kill her friends? Could she even kill Draco? She'd thought about it often enough, he could be such a bastard, but when it came down to it could she kill _anyone_?

But if they weren't real, shouldn't she feel no guilt for murdering them? Despite what she'd been told, she still had trouble thinking that these people were merely in her head. She knew them all. She'd hugged them, touched them, kissed them, talked to them, argued with them. And now she had to execute them?

Snape's voice continued on and on until she felt she would scream at him, but she desperately wanted to be left alone so she could think, and she was afraid that any more screaming would bring the nurse with the tranquillisers back, so she listened politely.

"From what we have been able to piece together from your accounts in the occasions that you were lucid, and your mumblings whilst you were having an episode, we have concluded that these four people are the ones whom you describe most often."

_Malfoy would be flattered that he plays such a large role. Do I really talk about him that much?_

"And what we have learned about what you have described as 'the last battle' between your side and Voldemort's side, you saw Harry, Ginny and Ron all seriously injured and near death. We believe that it is partly this occurrence that, in layman's terms, snapped you out of the delusion. Therefore, this is the only reasonable solution we could come to."

"I know it's hard Mynee, but these people aren't really people. I know that you feel like you would be doing something terrible, you were always such a good girl, but you would be doing it for the best. You would get better and you would never have to think about it again."

Looking into her mother's eyes she knew that there was only one thing she could do.

"I'll try." She whispered.

Her mother started smiling and talking excitedly, both to Hermione and to Dr. Snape, but her voice started fading, becoming quieter and quieter until she couldn't hear anything anymore.

Panicking, she opened her mouth to shout for help until someone called her name.

"Hermione, wake up! Hermione!"

She blinked, but when she opened her eyes the scene before her was different again.

Ron stared down at her, a grin on his handsome face, his red hair falling softly into his eyes.

"Good morning, Miss Granger," he said to her, with mock formality, "did you sleep well?" Without waiting for an answer, he dumped a pile of clothes on her bed. "Madam Pomfrey says you can leave. It's only 7am, if you hurry and get dressed we'll go down to breakfast together."

* * *

Her legs were so unsteady she felt as though at any moment she could collapse. Ron's arm around her waist would normally have given her some measure of comfort, it always had in the past.

Now she was having trouble not throwing it off of her and screaming at him until he disappeared. That was what had to happen. It didn't matter that she had all these memories of him, or that his arm was so solid and warm, all that mattered was that he wasn't real. He was keeping her here, in this fantasy world. And he had to die.

_He has to die. He has to die. He has to die_.

This mantra played over and over in Hermione's mind as she allowed him to gently lead her into the great hall and sit her down beside Harry and Ginny.

"Ginny? No-one bothered to tell me you were still…alive." Hermione attempted to throw a reproachful look at Harry and Ron, but a wave of sadness passed through her until all she could muster was a teary half-glare. Now this meant she had to kill her best female friend as well as the others. She'd hoped that Dr. Snape was wrong and Ginny had been killed by Voldemort, so that she didn't have to deal with it.

"Sorry, Hermione," Ron had the decency to look sheepish, "but you never really gave us the chance, and then Madam Pomfrey threw us out so we couldn't really."

Ginny reached over to hug Hermione, who flinched the moment the red-head touched her. Pulling away with a concerned and rather hurt look on her face, "Hermione? What's wrong? Are you ok?"

"I'm fine Gin, I'm just a bit tired that's all." How could she tell the girl that in the very near future Hermione was going to have to kill her?

"How long was I…you know…unconscious?" Hermione asked them. In the other world only two days had passed, according to Dr. Snape, but she had no idea how much time had passed at Hogwarts.

"Only about a week." Harry replied nonchalantly, taking a bite of his toast. Being unconscious for long periods of time never really fazed any of the group since it happened so often. "You were in St. Mungo's, but when school started two days ago they transferred you here so that you could be with your friends when you woke up."

_Did I wake up though? That's the question._

"I…I'm going get my books, Ron didn't bring them to the hospital wing when he brought me my clothes." She stood abruptly and almost ran out of the hall, leaving her bewildered friends to wonder about her.

As she hurried through the corridors, not paying attention to where she was going, her mind raced. She went over all the things she'd thought and felt in the last few days.

She was so lost in her thoughts that when she finally broke out of her reverie she realised that she had no idea where she was.

This had never happened to her before. She'd been at the school for five years and, together with Harry, Ron and occasionally Ginny, she'd explored almost every inch of the castle. The only place they really stayed away from was the deeper dungeons.

The dungeons of Hogwarts were like a labyrinth. The Slytherin common room, the potions classroom, Snape's and Filch's offices were all reasonably near the entrance hall but the dungeons continued on past them, made up of unused rooms and dark twisting passages, left alone by all but the ghosts.

Judging by the dank smell and the growing darkness Hermione assumed that she had somehow wandered too far into the bowels of the castle.

But something was wrong. It took her a while to figure out what didn't fit. It was nagging at the back of her head, like a word you couldn't find or a person too far away to make out properly.

It was perfume.

She could smell perfume, here, in Hogwarts dungeons. Not just any perfume. Her mothers perfume.

"Mum?" She instantly regretted speaking aloud as the word shattered the eerie silence, echoing off the claustrophobic walls.

There was no reply. Not that she'd expected any. Mingling with the smell of the perfume was the coconut smell of her mothers hair and she could have sworn she heard a laughing voice whisper the word "Mynee."

Hermione backed up against a wall and looked wildly around her.

"Who's there? I know someone's out there. Who are you?" Silence fell around her once more as the echoes faded away.

_God, I really am crazy_.

She didn't know how long she stood there, her back pressed to the wall, her eyes wide, trying to discern any movement in the shadows.

Eventually she heard footsteps making their way towards her and her tired eyes picked out Snape's figure, a darker black than the shadows of the corridor.

"What are you doing down here Granger?" He asked her coldly, stopping in front of her and looking at her with hooded eyes. "Shouldn't you be in a class right now? I'm afraid I will have to deduct ten points from Gryffindor, twenty if you do not get to class right this second."

She stared at him for a moment, unable to come up with a coherent sentence. Her mind didn't want to work. All she'd thought about for so long was whether she was in a delusion when she was at Hogwarts, or whether she was in a delusion when she was in the hospital bed. Either way it seemed safe to say that she, Hermione Granger – genius witch and bookworm extroadinaire – was crazy. Out of her mind, crawling up the walls, get the straightjacket, crazy.

Before Snape could say another word a hysterical giggle forced its way out of her throat.

"Are you laughing at me?" He snarled at her, his anger at her impudence evident in his voice.

"I'm sorry, Doctor," she managed to choke out between her laughter, "it's not my fault! I'm crazy, you see."

"Did you just call me Doctor?" He glared down at the girl, who was almost on the floor by now, barely able to stand through the force of her giggles.

"Why wouldn't I? That's what you are! You're a Doctor! You're Doctor Snape. It's all your fault. You're the one who told me to do it! How's my mother by the way?"

As the last line fell from her lips the laughter stopped as quickly as it began.

"Your…mother?" Snape looked confused now, and almost at a loss for words.

"I'm sorry, Professor," she tried to collect herself. Surely if _Professor_ Snape heard what she was going to do he would try and stop her? After all, she had to burn down Hogwarts and she was pretty sure he wouldn't be very happy about that. She just had to remember not to confuse him with _Doctor_ Snape anymore.

"I don't know what just happened. I got lost and I think I just got a bit claustrophobic for a while. Could you please tell me how to get out of these dungeons and I'd be happy to get to class?"

He didn't look convinced but he led her to the entrance hall and left her there without another word. He was probably worried that if he said anything it would set her off again.

Hermione didn't bother going to class. From what Ron had told her while they were walking down to breakfast the Slytherin's had a free morning. He hadn't been very happy about it as apparently it meant that the Slytherin Quidditch team were starting training earlier than ever before.

She strode purposely towards the Quidditch pitch. If killing people was the only way to get out of this and get back to reality then she was going to make sure that Malfoy was first.


	4. Dungeons

**UNREAL REALITIES**

**Chapter 4: Dungeons**

DISCLAIMER: The characters don't belong to me – I just like to mess them about a bit, you know, a bit of mild torture. Bits of the plot aren't mine, ie. The bits I stole from Buffy, but that doesn't matter cos I added my own little evil twists. I think…

* * *

Hermione strolled down towards the Quidditch pitch, noticing absently how beautiful the day was, even though it was September.

It was funny how she'd never really appreciated how gorgeous Hogwarts actually was. _I suppose that if I have to make up a whole other life I might as well make the places pretty,_ she thought, moving her gaze from the castle itself to the lake, from the lake to the forest, and from the forest to the Quidditch pitch.

She could see the green and silver blurs moving around, 50 feet from the ground and watched them as she drew nearer.

However, when she finally reached the stands it occurred to her that she had no idea how the hell she was supposed to get Malfoy on his own. It would be so much easier to just wait for the Slytherin team to finish practising then hit him with a curse or something when he was back on solid ground, but then she would have to deal with the rest of the team and there was no way she would be able to get to Harry, Ron and Ginny and kill them too before they locked her up or something.

Although Doctor Snape hadn't actually said anything about it, she had the feeling that the people at Hogwarts, even if they were just figments of her imagination, would not take kindly to being…eradicated. Therefore it was probably best if she tried not to draw too much attention to herself.

She mused for a moment on the weirdness of this thought. Here she was, in her own head, _her_ delusions, _her_ fantasy land, and she was trying to stay as inconspicuous as possible.

Lost in thought, it wasn't until the Slytherins had landed and most of the team were making their way towards the changing rooms, leaving Malfoy to put the balls away, that she finally realised he was alone.

_It's now or never._ She steeled herself.

"Malfoy." She called. She had no idea what she was going to do to him, but it had to be quick. Playing it by ear, she walked closer to him as he looked up at her shout.

"Oh, it's you," his lip curled when he located the source of the yell, "what do you want mudblood?"

"You know, you should probably be nicer to me Malfoy, seeing as I basically control your destiny and all." She didn't stop walking until she was standing right in front of him, watching him try to wrestle the last bludger back into the case and insult her at the same time.

"What the hell are you talking about Granger?" He eventually managed to shut the case and gave her his full attention, "and can you move a bit further away, I can smell your filth, and Merlin knows what I could catch. Why don't you run along and go pester Potty and the Weasel."

For a moment Hermione considered just killing him there and then but that would cause too many awkward questions and most probably she would be stopped from completing the task at hand, so instead she had to think up something else.

"I didn't come down here just to insult you Malfoy, as much fun as that is, Dumbledore wanted me to come and find you, he says he wants to talk to you about something."

"Fine. Now bugger off, I'll go up to his office once I've put this away," he kicked the case slightly and sneered at her.

"Sorry Ferret-face, he's not in his office, he told me to show you where he was."

"Alright then," he waved his wand at the case and it flew towards the changing rooms, "lets go, but make it quick, I don't want to spend any more time with you than is absolutely necessary Granger."

"Oh, yeah," Hermione replied turning away from him and making her way back up to the castle, "because, I totally love hanging out with you too, Malfoy." Her words and tone were flippant but inside her heart was beating fast and her mind was racing.

Well, she'd gotten him to follow her, now she just had to decide where the hell she was going to take him and what she was going to do when they got there. Not to mention what was going to happen when everyone realised Malfoy was missing. It wasn't as though he blended into the background or anything, he was so obnoxious that you always noticed when he was around, and when he wasn't around he was noticeable by his absence.

They reached the entrance hall and she hesitated for a second. It was long enough for Malfoy to get impatient.

"Can you hurry it up a bit Granger? Or has the great genius forgotten where she's going?"

Hermione ignored the scorn dripping from his ice-cold voice as her mind raced through a dozen possibilities incredibly quickly.

_Room of Requirement. No, too many people know about it. _

The forest. No, it's too late for that, we're in the castle now and he'd never follow me back out

One of the secret passageways. No, there's always a chance Harry or someone would stumble across it

Suddenly it came to her. The dungeons. No-one would look for him there, and even if they did there were so many rooms and corners and corridors down there that it would take ages to search them all, and by then it would be too late. Plus if she dumped him in a room down there then she could bring the others down one by one and kill them all together, that would be easier than killing them separately and leaving the bodies lying around.

"Shut up Malfoy, of course I know where I'm going." Less than 5 seconds after she'd stopped, Hermione was once more leading Malfoy, this time towards the deepest, darkest, furthest away dungeon she could find.

She could hear him getting more and more nervous behind her as she took him further through the labyrinth, all the time noting in her head which way she was going. It wouldn't do to take Malfoy somewhere and then not be able to find her way back out again.

Eventually she noticed a door up ahead with a lock on the outside. She discreetly peered through the doorway, noting the small cell like room beyond. _Perfect._

"In here Malfoy, he'll be down in a minute." She stopped and pointed a finger through the doorway.

Malfoy glanced past her hand and into the room. "What the hell are you going on about Granger?" Although he tried to hide it she could detect a hint of fear in his voice and had to bite back a laugh as she remembered what a wimp he'd been about going into the Forbidden Forest years ago.

"There is no way I'm going in there. And why would Dumbledore want me to meet him here anyway?" Malfoy was starting to look suspicious now.

"'Theirs is not to reason why, theirs is but to do or die.'" Came her serene reply.

"What the…?" Malfoy stared at her as if she was mad, "Have you been drinking Granger?"

"For Gods sake, it means just do what you're told and don't ask stupid questions." She rolled her eyes.

"I'm not going in there until Dumbledore gets here."

"Fine, whatever…" Hermione broke off and suddenly started to shriek, "oh my God! What _is_ that?" She pointed once more into the room, and, as she'd hoped, Malfoy leaned past her to try and see what was wrong.

Seizing her chance, Hermione shoved him in the back, hard, and sent him stumbling into the cell.

"Finally." She said as she slammed the door behind him. "Don't worry Draco," she called through the thick wooden door, "Ginny will be along soon to keep you company."

Hermione could hear his shouts and banging as she strolled away, they echoed impossibly loudly through her mind even as she wandered dazed through the Gryffindor common room.

* * *

Ginny looked up as Hermione strolled into her bedroom, looking tired and worried.

"What's wrong, Hermione?" She instantly put down the transfiguration essay she'd been working on and fixed her concerned gaze on Hermione's pale face.

"Nothing's wrong, Gin," she replied, trying really hard to sound normal. Getting Ginny to follow her would be easier than it was to get Malfoy to follow her, but this girl had been her best female friend for years, and now Hermione's conscience was acting up, something which she tried to quash immediately.

_Stop it, she's not real. It's not like I'm going to kill her, how can you kill something that never existed in the first place?_

"Don't lie to me. I've known you long enough to know when there's something wrong with you." Ginny grabbed Hermione by the shoulders and gently led her towards her bed, making her sit, before just staring at her, waiting for her to talk.

"Do you…can you…" Hermione tried to ask Ginny to come with her but the words wouldn't come out.

"Do you remember what happened that day?" For some reason her mouth was just operating of its own accord, "at my house, I mean. You know, the fight."

Ginny frowned and sat down beside her. "Well, to be honest with you, I don't remember much, just the beginning really. That stupid prick McNair knocked me out and I didn't wake up again till just before Harry killed You-Know-Who…" She gave a small smile, "Voldemort." They'd all gotten better at saying his actual name since the beginning of the second war.

"What happened after I…collapsed?"

"Hermione, are you sure you want to…"

"Please just tell me Ginny." Hermione's voice was pleading, "I need to know, it's really important."

"Well, ok, but I don't really know much. Voldemort hit you with an incantation before Harry…killed him, but no-one really knows what it was or what it did, but don't worry, you were thoroughly checked over at St. Mungo's and at the hospital wing here. Dumbledore thinks that Voldemort died before the spell was finished so you should be ok, but they're keeping an eye on you just in case. Anyway, Harry cursed him and he just sort of crumbled into dust."

She stopped, a serious look on her face as she absently rubbed a hand over her stomach, where a scar had been left, a permanent reminder of the injury she sustained during that last fight. The healers had, for some reason, been unable to remove it.

"The Death Eaters didn't seem all that panicked though, I mean, after it happened I would have expected them to all disapparate immediately or something, but they didn't. They just dropped you and the ones holding your dad…erm…well, you know…and then they just kind of looked at each other and disapparated. It was a bit weird but we were all too worried about you. After that, everything's pretty much a blur and the next thing I remember was being at St. Mungo's."

"Oh," was all Hermione could think to say.

"I'm sorry Hermione, I'm not being much help."

"No, that's ok," Hermione replied, looking at her friend's anxious face, "I was wondering if you could possibly do me a favour? McGonagall wanted me to sort a couple of things out in one of the dungeons, can you help me with it?"

"The dungeons?" Ginny wrinkled her nose in disgust, "what does she want that would be in the dungeons?"

"Oh, just a few spare chairs and desks that have been stored there, a couple of blackboards, that sort of thing, she just wanted me to check them out, see that they're all still there or that they haven't been infested with termites and stuff," she tried to sound nonchalant, "so will you come with me?"

"Yeah alright, it'll get my mind off this essay anyway."

Hermione's heart leapt as she heard these words, but it wasn't with happiness. It felt more like a curious mixture of hope and guilt.

Despite what she'd been telling herself the whole time she'd been talking to Ginny, she was having trouble thinking of the flame haired girl as anything other than a person. Her best friend to be exact.

But at the same time she knew that once Ginny was down in the dungeons with Malfoy she would be halfway through what she had to do.

Then she could go home. Back to her mother.

Back to real life.

A/N – by the way, what Hermione said before she shoved Malfoy into the dungeon was a quote from Churchill. Please leave me a review if you liked the chapter! Or even if you didn't!


	5. Halfway There

**UNREAL REALITIES**

**Chapter 5: Halfway There**

DISCLAIMER: Yeah, right.

A/N – Thanks so much to all my great reviewers! Seeing those 'review alerts' in my inbox just makes me smile so much!

* * *

Hermione felt Ginny shiver slightly as she followed down to the dungeons.

"So, where exactly are these things that McGonagall wanted us to check out?" Ginny asked apprehensively, listening to the way her footsteps echoed hollowly off the bare walls around them.

"Just a little bit further," Hermione replied, "I think it's just round this corner."

As they turned the corner and made their way down a long corridor noises drifted through the oppressive air. Angry noises.

"Hermione, what's that noise?" Ginny tried to keep her voice steady but she'd never been this far into the dungeons of Hogwarts and couldn't stop herself remembering a scary story involving the Hogwarts dungeons, a third year girl and an ogre that Fred and George had found it amusing to tell her right before her first ever potions lesson – in the dungeons.

"It's just Malfoy, McGonagall enlisted him to help too and he's not very happy about it," Hermione lied, an innocent look on her face.

"I can tell," the noises grew louder as they drew closer to the locked door of the cell where Hermione had imprisoned Draco, the banging and cursing coming from within were perfectly audible, even through the thick oak door.

Before Ginny could notice that it was locked, Hermione whipped out her wand and muttered "alohomora". She watched the bolt draw itself back just before they came to stand in front of the door.

Hoping that Malfoy was at the other side of the room Hermione turned to Ginny, "he's not too happy with me at the moment, I kind of threatened him with the bat-bogey hex to get him down here to help us, would you do me a favour and go in first so that I'm not the first person he sees? 'Cause he sounds _really_ mad to be down here."

Ginny looked slightly puzzled but merely said, "sure, Mione" and opened the door to the sight of an extremely irate Slytherin in an otherwise empty cell.

"Hey, where is everything?" She started to ask before a hand on her back sent her flying into Malfoy and the door was slammed shut.

Hermione locked the door once more and leant her head against the wood, trying to ignore the pounding headache forming behind her eyes.

"Hermione? Hermione, what's going on?" She could hear Ginny shouting and moved slightly away from the door as the girl started banging on it.

"Give it up Weaslette, that door is solid oak, it isn't going to budge. Believe me, I've been down her for the past half an hour." Malfoy's icy voice was full of rage, "now, do you have any idea what the hell is wrong with the Mudblood? 'Cause it would be nice to know why the hell she locked me in this frigging dungeon!"

She could hear his voice rising and tried to block it out, tried to ignore the kicks on the door, which punctuated every word.

"Don't you dare call her that! I should be asking what _you_ did to her, since whenever something goes wrong it's usually your fault."

Hermione put her hands over her ears, the shouting was growing too loud, she couldn't bear it.

"SHUT UP! JUST SHUT THE HELL UP!"

Her screech broke through the arguing and a shocked silence fell as Hermione breathed heavily.

"I can't take this anymore." She started pacing outside the door, "when will it all end, when can I go back?"

"Hermione…" A tentative voice came.

"I said SHUT UP!" She roared in reply, "just shut up! You're nothing! You don't exist, it's all just in my head. I need to be in control," her voice grew quieter as she talked, more to herself than to her two prisoners. "You're both just figments of my imagination, I'm ill that's all, there's nothing wrong with that, I just need to get better."

"What do you need to do to get better Hermione?" A worried voice interrupted her rant, as though unsure whether she would start yelling again.

"It's simple really Ginny, Snape told me and it all makes perfect sense. Then I can go home." A smile formed on her lips as she thought of all the things she would do once she got home. Shopping with her mum – that would be first on the list.

"Wait, Snape? As in Professor Snape?" Malfoy sounded shocked as he too listened to what Hermione was saying.

"_Doctor_ Snape," Hermione corrected him, "Professor Snape doesn't exist, remember? Haven't you been listening? None of you exist, you're all in my head. Although…" She paused, a slight frown on her face now, "why haven't you all gone away yet? Now that I know you're not real?"

"Because we _are_ real Hermione!"

"No you're not!" She snapped at the red-head's answer, "so just be quiet, I'll just have to ask Doctor Snape the next time I see him. After all, I'm not a doctor, I don't really know how all these things work. I haven't been back there for a while though, so maybe the next time I seem him and my mum will be after I've set the fires."

"Set what fires?" Hermione giggled at the raw panic in Malfoy's voice.

"The fires that will burn down Hogwarts, Malfoy. Fire is said to be purifying, you know, so when I set the fires all this should be purged and I'll be better again. Don't worry though," she reassured as she heard Ginny's faint sob, "I'll kill you both before I set the place on fire. You won't even feel the flames, I promise."

"Thanks, I feel so much better now. Why don't you just kill us now and get it over with?"

She smiled listening to his sarcasm. "I'll kill you soon enough, I'm just going to go get Ron and Harry first, it'll be easier to kill you all at once, I'll bring them back down here soon."

She turned to go, ignoring the fresh bout of pleading and shouting as Ginny and Malfoy started banging once more, alternately begging and threatening her to let them out.

Finding her way out more quickly than she had before Hermione almost ran through the entrance hall and out into the cool air of the grounds.

She stopped by the lake and almost collapsed onto the ground, sobs racking her whole body as she fought to take deep cleansing breaths.

Knowing that it had to be done didn't make it any easier. She'd been happy here, in this world. Even though she'd accepted the fact that it wasn't real she was still finding it difficult to destroy the only thing she'd known for five years.

The smile had faded from her face as the noises from her two schoolmates had grown fainter. It had been a lot harder than she'd thought to listen to Ginny's cries as she just walked away and left her there.

Eventually her sobs quieted and the thoughts stopped going round in her head, giving way to the pain that had been building all day. Her whole body was literally numb, a brief moment of panic enveloped her as she realised she couldn't feel _anything_ except the pounding pain in her head. A particularly violent throb caused a wave of dizziness to pass through her. She closed her eyes and silently begged for it to all be over.

"Mynee?"

Her eyes flew open to see her mother's matching brown eyes hovering over her, worry etched on her features.

"Mum?" She whispered, her voice thick and still hoarse.

"Oh thank God." Her mum smiled, "you were crying in your sleep, I was worried about you. Especially since you haven't been lucid for a few days, I started thinking that maybe…" she paused and stared down at her daughter sadly, "never mind, you're here now."

Before Hermione could question her mother about what she'd thought, Snape entered.

"Ah, you're awake Hermione. That's good to know, we were starting to worry you'd had a relapse."

So that was what her mother was going to say. Hermione tried to watch her as she moved away to allow Snape to get closer to the bed Hermione was still strapped to, but her head was held in place so she couldn't move it and her mother soon disappeared from her sight.

Snape carried on; "tell me, Hermione, have you given any thought to what we discussed the last time you were lucid? About what you had to do to get better."

"Yes." Her voice was barely more than a sigh.

"Excellent," he flashed that disturbing grin at her once more, "and how is it going? I'm assuming you're doing well, since you obviously haven't relapsed."

"I…I locked Malfoy and Ginny in the dungeons." It was hard to get the words out past the sudden lump in her throat.

"You locked them up? Hermione, my dear, that isn't going to work, you need to eliminate them completely, eradicate them. Just think of it as cleansing your mind." His voice was slightly too eager for Hermione's comfort.

"I know. I just…I just wanted to get all four of them together so I could kill them all at the same time, so it would be easier."

"That would make sense, I suppose," Snape looked thoughtful, "just be careful that you don't wait too long, the longer it takes, the more chance there is that you _will_ relapse and you won't be able to come back to us."

"I know." Hermione repeated, conviction strengthening her voice, "I'm going to get Harry and Ron soon and then I'll…" she stopped and composed herself as more tears threatened to spill from her eyes, "I'll set Hogwarts on fire."

A/N – Well there you go, another chapter. Here comes the shameless plug for my other stories: I have more stories, check them out, you might like them:-) Now that's done, please REVIEW! Please? If I ask really nicely!


	6. Nightmares

**UNREAL REALITIES**

**Chapter 6: Nightmares**

DISCLAIMER: I didn't do it, nobody saw me do it, you can't prove anything! Um...sorry...ok, it's not mine!

A/N – Sorry about the length of time between updates, I know it's an overused excuse but I have been so so busy!

Hermione didn't know how long she'd been lying there. Shortly after she'd told Snape that she would burn Hogwarts he'd left her. Unable to fight the tears back she'd whispered to her mother that she needed to sleep. Once her mum had exited the room the hot, salty tears poured down her face through tightly closed eyes.

Sometime during the tears she'd fallen asleep, only to be haunted by a dream of raging fires and burning flesh. Ginny, against a backdrop of crumbling towers and glowing embers of what was once Hogwarts, reached out a pale hand to her, a grimace of pain on her face accentuated by her tears. Her hair, so bright it was often described as flame-coloured, was now living up to its name as a tongue of fire licked its way up the hair, enveloping her face and carrying on, until the only thing left of Ginny that was recognisable was the hand, still reaching to Hermione, begging her to take it and save her. And there was the screaming. Ginny screamed one last scream. So heartbreakingly painful, full of such fear and anger that Hermione answered with a scream of her own and collapsed to the ground.

Then there was Ron. He stood next to the pyre that was his sister and looked at Hermione with soft eyes. "Hermione, don't do this." His voice was pleading as she reached out her hand to him, an echo of what Ginny had done to her, "Hermione, please, please! Hermione!" His words rose to a shout as he faded before her to be replaced by darkness. Blessed darkness.

But the voice was still there, still shouting her name. "Hermione! Hermione, where are you?"

She opened her eyes slowly to the moonlight. She lay on the grass beside the lake, her back on the ground, staring up into the sky, tears still drying on her face.

As she sat up the world wavered, like a curtain blown by the wind. Just for a second she caught a glimpse of white walls and a window with bars behind that curtain when it dropped back into place and the shout came again.

"Hermione! Where are you?"

"Ron?" She replied, standing up, the silver of the moon reflecting on the lake, giving her more than enough light to see the red haired boy running her way, "Ron? What's wrong?"

"Oh, thank Merlin! I couldn't find you! I thought…Well, never mind what I thought, something's happened, do you know where Ginny is?"

He reached her and pulled her into a huge hug before pulling away to look into her face, concern and fear in his voice. He didn't notice that during the hug she'd removed his wand from the back pocket of his trousers.

"Why? What's wrong?" Hermione's throat got tight. Did they know? Had someone found out what she was trying to do?

"I can't tell you out here, it's too risky, come back into the castle and we'll find Harry." He grabbed her hand and almost dragged her back towards the entrance to the castle.

"What's happened to Ginny?" She knew that she had to seem concerned about her friend if there was any chance of getting Ron to follow her down to the dungeons, it would seem too suspicious if she was as cold and heartless as she needed to be.

"We don't know, that's the problem. Parvati saw her leave the common room with you this morning but no-one's seen her since, and we couldn't find you either. Dumbledore got some new information from the Order and he's about to make an announcement in the great hall, but me and Harry got away and came looking for you and Ginny. The Slytherins are all moaning because Malfoy's missing as well but hopefully he's just fallen in the lake or something." Hermione had to almost run to keep up with Ron as he strode up the hill towards the doors, his voice frantic and breathless, "Harry's looking inside and I searched the grounds. What happened today? You were the last person to see Ginny, where was she?"

They had reached the entrance hall now and she stopped him before he could carry on up the main staircase – no doubt to find Harry. Casting an uneasy glance at the closed doors to the great hall, she turned to look into his face. His eyes were wide and showing too much white, he really loved his sister and the concern he felt for her was like a blow to Hermione.

"I think I know where Ginny might be," she whispered, averting her eyes from his as relief spread through them.

"You do? That's great! Where is she?"

"Ron, I need to tell you something before we go find her."

He seemed to catch on to her trepidation as he placed a hand under her chin and raised her face until his searching eyes met hers once more. "Hermione, you can tell me anything."

"I know." She managed a weak smile. "I just wanted you to know that I love you. No matter what happens, you're the first boy I ever loved and I'll never forget you."

"What's going on?" He looked _really_ worried now.

"Nothing," she said, a little too hastily, "it's just that you said Dumbledore had information from the Order, and that's never been a good thing, has it."

He looked slightly mollified, "sorry, I'm just a bit tense, it's been a hard day."

"Yeah," Hermione agreed quietly, her mind on Ginny's shouts, the real ones in the dungeon mingling with the screeches that had ripped through her dreams, indistinguishable from one another.

"Anyway, you said you knew where Ginny is," his voice brought her out of her reverie.

"Yes, I do." She shook herself mentally, there was no point getting sentimental now, she had decided what had to be done and she must stick with it. Then all this would be over, all the fear, the worry, the pain would be over and she would be in her mothers arms again.

Grabbing his hand, Hermione smiled tentatively up at the red-haired boy she'd come to love and began leading him down through the dungeons to his fate.

* * *

Ron had been the hardest person to capture so far. Not because he'd struggled or cried or shouted, but because he'd just followed her willingly, trusted her implicitly.

Hermione knew that even when she got better, left the mental hospital, went back to lead a normal life, the look of mute betrayal and confusion on Ron's face would still haunt her. She would see the question in his eyes as she closed the door until the day she died.

Unlike the other two he hadn't uttered a word, hadn't screamed, shouted, pleaded, threatened or cursed her. He'd just stared at her.

She wandered the deserted fifth floor corridor trying to think about something, anything, to take her mind off him, but no matter how hard she tried she couldn't get him out of her head. Just as she was mentally noting the irony of this, she turned a corner only to be knocked backwards, hitting the floor with a thump and she closed her eyes at the pain in her backside.

"Hermione! I'm so sorry," Harry's voice came from above her. "Are you alright?" She slowly opened her eyes, unwilling to see the raven-haired boy.

His emerald eyes met hers and she had the uncomfortable feeling that they were boring into her, seeing the secrets she had locked away, all her doubts, everything about that other world and how she was trying to get back to it. The feeling disappeared almost as quickly as it had come and she looked into his eyes for another second before taking the hand he offered to help her up.

"Have you seen Ron or Ginny?" He asked once she'd stood and dusted herself off.

"Er, the last time I saw Ginny she was sorting a couple of things out in the dungeons for Snape, but I haven't seen Ron all day, why do you ask?" She tried her hardest to look innocent.

"Where have you been, Hermione? We've been looking for you all day, there's big news from the Order and all the teachers are going crazy. Malfoy and Ginny are missing and we couldn't find you either so me and Ron came looking for you but we were supposed to meet up half an hour ago and he didn't show."

"Maybe he went down to the dungeons to try and find Ginny and got lost?" Hermione suggested, fighting the urge to ask what the big news was that everyone seemed to be going on about – it was nothing, just something invented by her twisted mind in order to distract her and stop her doing what she had to.

"How would he know she was down there though, if you're the only person who knows but you haven't seen him?" Harry was looking rather suspicious of her now, an expression that she hadn't really seen on his face since before the last battle. _Before I realised that he doesn't actually exist,_ she told herself.

"Maybe Snape told him, or maybe someone else saw Ginny go down there, I don't know, but have you checked the dungeons yet?" Hermione tried not to sound too edgy.

"No, I started at the top of the castle and made my way down, if you hadn't noticed, this is quite a big place Hermione," he answered with a similar twinge of irritation in his voice.

"Sorry, Harry, but you've got me worried now." She hugged him to emphasise her apology and, like she'd done with Ron, she relieved him of his wand. "Anyway, Ginny had quite a lot to do down there so it's possible that she's still there."

"It's worth a try I suppose," he said and started down the corridor, stopping after just a few steps. "Hermione, you are alright aren't you?"

"Yeah, sure, why do you ask?" Her heart was in her throat. Not here! It was inevitable that she was going to have to get rid of him, but not here! Anyone could walk by and see.

"You've just been a bit weird since…you know, the summer." Harry sounded awkward.

"Well, I watched my mum get murdered, what do you expect?" She snapped back at him, starting to walk again only to be stopped by his hand on her arm.

"I know, but it's not just that, you space out for hours at a time, you don't pay any attention in class, you didn't seem that surprised about Malfoy and Ginny being missing, you wander off and don't reappear for ages. You just seem…distant."

"I'm just trying to deal with everything in my own way, Harry. I'm fine, don't worry about me. I have a feeling that I'll be better soon. In fact, I'm feeling better already, maybe by tomorrow all this will be over and everything will go back to normal." She smiled at him, and was rewarded with a small smile of his own. Of course, he didn't know that 'normal' for Hermione meant that he wouldn't exist anymore.

She sighed and started walking again, "come on, we'd better find the others before we miss the whole of Dumbledore's announcement."

* * *

This time when she reached the dungeon with Harry in tow she grabbed his hand as they reached the door, the shouting had died away long ago when her prisoners had realised it wasn't going to do them any good.

The corridor was deathly silent as she pulled him along, navigating her way through the warren of passages easily.

She gulped as they got closer and closer to the cell and, shushing Harry's attempt to ask her what was going on, she opened the door and shoved him inside, this time following him in and locking the door behind her, leaving her in the room with the four people she would have to kill.

A/N - Please review! You know you want to...


	7. Reality

**UNREAL REALITIES**

**Chapter 7: Reality**

DISCLAIMER: They're all mine and i can do what i want with them! Mwahaha! Um, i mean...i don't own any of the characters or the plot...yeah...that's what i mean.

A/N - I didn't expect to finish this fic so soon but here's the last chapter, it just kinda snuck up on me. I was going to split it up into 2 chapters but i couldn't find a decent place to end so i just gave it to you all in one.

* * *

Before any of them could make a move towards her, Hermione whipped out her wand and pointed it at them.

"Don't move. Any of you." Her voice was low and calm, despite the torrent of emotions that were flooding through her as her eyes swept the faces of these people she'd known for years.

There was Ginny, tear tracks lining her pale beautiful face while she stared with haunted eyes at her best friend. Malfoy's blonde hair was messed up yet he still faced Hermione with the same cold arrogance he always wore. Harry looked startled and slightly afraid. And then there was Ron.

Ron. He hadn't shed any tears, she could tell that from the clarity of his eyes as they held her own, questioning and caring. He still cared for her despite what she'd done to him. What she was going to do to him.

"Hermione," Harry's voice was flat and tight, the type of voice they use to talk jumpers down from the roof, "Hermione, why have you brought us here?"

"Don't ask, Harry, you _really_ don't want to know the answer," Ginny's voice trembled as she eyed Hermione warily. "There's something wrong with her, it's like she's possessed or something."

"I'm sorry, Harry, I want you to know that. I am sorry, but it has to be done." Hermione drew his attention away from the shaking redhead.

"What has to be done? What are you sorry for?"

"For everything," her voice cracked as the first tear formed behind her eyes and she raised the wand, pointing it at Malfoy. He would be first.

"Hermione? Hermione honey, what's going on?" Her wand lowered imperceptibly as her eyes widened, startled at the words.

That wasn't Harry's voice. That was the voice she remembered from happier times, the voice she was doing all this for, "Mum?"

Her hostages exchanged glances as Hermione's eyes swept the room once more, searching for a voice none of them had heard.

"Mum? Where are you?"

"I'm right here, honey, just open your eyes." The soft voice sounded so full of love yet she still couldn't see where her mother was.

"My eyes are open mum, where are you? I can't see you. I can only see _them_. I'm about to do it. Mummy, I'm going to get better, I promise. I'll do anything."

"Hermione, who are you talking to? There's no-one there." Ron sounded slightly panicked now.

"Shut up!" She screeched at him, "Where are you? Where's Doctor Snape?"

"She's finally lost it," Malfoy's drawl cut through the tense silence as everyone strained to hear what Hermione seemed to be hearing, "Granger, I knew reading every book in the library would screw you up one day."

"Malfoy, just shut it." Ron muttered, "Hermione, just tell me who you're talking to."

Her mother's voice had disappeared when Ron had interrupted her and she almost screamed in frustration.

"It doesn't matter, Ron. You don't need to know. Just hush and it'll all be over soon."

"What are you going to do?" Ron asked.

Hermione's body was racked with a wave of tears as she opened her mouth to try to explain herself, her voice failing her when she looked into the blue eyes of the boy she loved.

"She's going to kill us," Ginny whispered, answering for her.

"What?" Harry exclaimed, looking at Ginny like she'd lost her mind.

"I told you, there's something wrong with her, she keeps talking about her mum and she thinks Snape is a Doctor. She thinks she's ill or something – she was talking to herself before. She's going to kill us and then set Hogwarts on fire."

"ShutupshutupshutupshutupshutupshutupshutupSHUTUP!" Hermione chanted, ending in a screech that caused the four figures in front of her to back up against the wall.

"I'm going to kill you. He told me that's the only way to get better. I want to get better, what's so wrong with that?" Her tears coursed down her cheeks as she ranted at them. "I'm ill. You don't exist, none of you do, Hogwarts doesn't exist, magic doesn't exist, broomsticks don't fly and dragons and unicorns belong in fairy tales. This is all an illusion dreamt up by my sick mind. I'm lying in a hospital bed somewhere and it's all _your_ fault. I could have gotten better a long time ago but I was so happy here and it's all your fault!"

"If you're happy here then why do you need to end it?" Harry asked cautiously.

"Because for the past 5 years I've been living in a fantasy world. I might have been happy but it's all turned to shit now. Both my parents are dead here. In the real world I still have my mum. And I'm willing to do anything to get back there."

"Including killing us." Malfoy stated.

"Yeah. Now hold still, Ferret Boy, this'll only hurt a bit."

"You know what, Granger, I don't think I will." He started advancing upon her menacingly, ignoring the gasps and cries of the others to get back.

Hermione looked shocked and tried to steady her shaking wand hand, "what are you doing Malfoy? I've got the wand, don't you think I'll do it? Because I will."

"The way I see it, there's four of us and only one of you. Wand or not, we could still take you. Maybe Scarhead and the Weasels want to die in this dungeon but I don't. And, unlike them, I don't care whether I have to hurt you to get you to move out of my way so I can leave." Slow, deliberate steps brought him ever closer to her.

"Don't push me, Malfoy. I _will_ kill you." She was breathless and her chest felt tight, she tried to attribute it to the tears and the excitement of being so close to her goal but deep down she knew she was afraid. Afraid that she would kill him. Afraid that she wouldn't.

"I don't think so, mudblood," he was right in front of her now, her wand actually touching his chest, "otherwise I would be dead already. And so would all of your little friends. So why don't you just move out of my way and accept that your filthy mudblood parents are six feet under, where they belong."

Hermione saw red. She lowered her wand, but only so she could get enough leverage to punch the smirking blonde before her.

"Hermione!" shouted someone in the room, but she didn't acknowledge them, her eyes instead on the boy she'd knocked to the floor, a hint of thick red blood congealing at the corner of his mouth.

She lifted her wand once more – even through the punch she'd held onto it – and pointed it down at him. "My mother is not dead. And you don't even exist you pathetic freak. I'm not even going to feel bad about this. _Avada_…"

A pounding on the door behind her and a muffled shout of "Miss Granger!" cut her off. She whirled round to see the door beginning to open. Panicking she threw her weight against it and pushed it closed again. "Colloportus," she panted.

"Miss Granger, please let us in." Hermione could hear Dumbledore shouting and the sound of others; probably various other staff members, but their words didn't mean a thing. They fell into the background like white noise as she turned to face her prisoners yet again.

This was it. She'd stalled for too long. She just had to bite the bullet – so to speak – and get it over with. Slowly she raised her wand once more.

"Don't do this, Hermione, this isn't you. You're not well," Ginny pleaded, through her sobs.

"That's what I've been telling you all along. But I'm making myself better and then I'm going back to the real world."

"This _is_ the real world! Just listen to us! How could you have created something like this? A whole other world with so many things going on. And _why_ would you have to kill us to get through it? Mental Hospitals have all these drugs and treatments and stuff, what you're saying sounds like they're trying to make you cure yourself, and that just wouldn't happen." Harry spoke low and carefully, his words fast but not hurried.

Despite herself, Hermione couldn't help but listen to him, her eyes fixed on him as the others in the room hung back and let him do the talking since he seemed to be the only person getting through to her. Even the pounding on the door behind her had ceased. Relieved that he had her attention, Harry continued.

"Think about it. Just before I got Voldemort he hit you with a curse. You said you would do anything to keep your parents alive and he said he would test your loyalty. How do you know that this whole thing: you thinking you're ill; thinking you have to kill us and set fire to Hogwarts, isn't just something to do with that curse?"

"Voldemort didn't finish the incantation, Harry. Besides, he's dead. Most spells cast upon a person end should the castor die – finite incantatem at its best."

"I'm afraid, Miss Granger, that Voldemort isn't quite as dead as we'd hoped."

Dumbledore's voice whirled her round to face the open doorway. Snape stood behind him, with something that looked suspiciously like a muggle hairpin clutched between his hands. Professor McGonagall stood beside Snape, her stern face showing slight sympathy as she regarded her favourite student.

"No…stop trying to confuse me. I know he's not dead," numerous shocked gasps interrupted her, "of course he's not dead, he can't die if he never existed in the first place. I just started getting better that's all, so he went away. You can't do anything to me! You're not even here, you're just in my head. LEAVE ME ALONE!" She took a step back and levelled her wand at Dumbledore, tears obscuring her vision.

"Miss Granger, forgive me," was all the tired looking old man said before raising his own wand and muttering "stupefy," at the exact moment she cried out "expelliarmus!"

Hermione's spell was no match for the power behind Dumbledore's and with a heaving gasp of tears she fell to the floor, the now familiar darkness settling round her once more.

* * *

"YOU FAILED?"

The harsh words permeated Hermione's consciousness, her eyes opened against her will to find herself once more strapped to the bed in the blinding white of the asylum.

"What?" She muttered weakly, trying to shut her eyes against the glare.

"You failed to kill them. You failed to destroy Hogwarts. Tell me girl, are you COMPLETELY USELESS?"

The owner of the voice came into sharp focus as Hermione gave up the struggle to keep her eyes closed and instead looked up into the livid face of her mother. But the look in her eyes wasn't one Hermione was accustomed to seeing in their chocolate depths. The pure hatred and revulsion she saw made her jerk back involuntarily, struggling against her bonds.

"What? Mum…no…I'm going to get better, I promise, I'll come back." Hermione stammered, her eyes wide as she wrenched her hands and legs, trying to loosen the straps.

"What use do I have for you? I set you one simple task. I even made it easier for your simple little Gryffindor mind," her voice took on a simpering air, "'I can't kill you because you don't even exist, I want my Mummy!' I made it look like I'd died, as if that silly little boy could kill me. I made you think there was nothing wrong with what you were doing, and still you were unsuccessful. "

"Stop, please stop! Where's my mum? What have you done to her?"

"Your mother's dead little girl, accept it. You were so close! I had you and you had them. You were finally going to get rid of Potter and Dumbledore and instead you decided to have an attack of conscience. Your loyalty is no longer required, Mudblood."

Hermione screamed as her mother's soft beautiful face morphed and shifted to become pure white, without a nose, although she barely noticed this as her mothers deep brown eyes glowed pure red.

Lord Voldemort leaned down, bringing that face closer and closer to hers, ignoring the jerking of her body as she tried desperately to escape.

"Say hello to mummy," he hissed right into her ear, sending shivers running down her spine.

She closed her eyes and screamed once more, louder and longer than she'd ever screamed before in her life. She barely stopped to take a breath as the scream went on and on and on, and all the while in her mind she was praying. Pleading and begging to any deity listening, to help her.

A soft voice broke through the noise, quieting the scream but she still didn't open her eyes, soft whimpers replacing the piercing shrieks.

"Hermione, wake up." The voice was insistent but she felt that nothing would make her open her eyes again and risk seeing that hideous creature. No wonder Harry had had nightmares after what had happened at the Triwizard Tournament. She knew that, should she by some miracle survive, Voldemort would haunt her dreams as well. The thought of Harry caused a niggle in the back of her mind. Something about him.

The voice had continued, cajoling her to open her eyes, but it was different, it wasn't hissing and cold, it sounded familiar, comforting. It sounded like…

"Harry?" She finally opened her eyes, wary that it might be another trick of Voldemorts, playing with her before he killed her.

"It's me, Hermione, don't worry, we're all here."

And they were. Her bleary eyes took in the familiar hospital wing, and the even more familiar faces grouped around her: Harry, Ron, Ginny, Dumbledore, Madam Pomfrey, McGonagall, Snape.

Snape.

"Get away from me! Get away from me you BASTARD!" She screeched, launching herself off the bed to get as far away as possible from Snape, oblivious to the concerned glances passing between her friends and teachers.

"What the hell is he doing here? He's part of it! Get him out of here, now!" When no-one moved she stared round at them all again.

"Why aren't you doing anything? He was there, he was in my delusions! Voldemort planted all these…things…thoughts…plans in my head and that evil Death Eater scum was in on it all the time!"

Snape didn't say a word, looking slightly apprehensive as the sixteen year old witch before him screamed yet more obscenities, her voice growing hoarser all the time. And still no-one did anything.

Harry understood why Dumbledore didn't stop Hermione. It was like at the end of the previous year when he'd been allowed to rant and rave and destroy the Headmaster's office, he acknowledged that Dumbledore felt Hermione needed to get all her feelings out and he put a restraining hand on Ron's shoulder as the boy made a movement towards his girlfriend. He didn't need to worry about Ginny though, she was just staring at Hermione, her mouth slightly open and her eyes wide at this display.

"He's part of the reason I nearly killed you all, why don't you do something?" Hermione's voice had dropped to a whisper and she sank to the floor, unable to keep her legs steady anymore.

Ron fought off Harry's hand and went to her, giving the others an angry look. He gently picked her up from the floor, holding her frail form in his arms, and carried her slowly back on to the bed. He placed her on it and tucked the covers round her shivering, whimpering body and a surge of rage filled him.

"Would someone please tell me what the ruddy hell is going on?" He demanded, not caring that he had sworn in front of almost half the faculty.

Dumbledore sighed heavily and began to speak in his serene tones to the room at large.

"It seems that the attack on Miss Granger's household two weeks ago was a carefully orchestrated plot to allow Voldemort to manipulate her into killing Harry, Draco Malfoy, Miss Weasley and Mr. Weasley. It is well known that Harry places a lot of faith in his friends and you each have helped him best Voldemort on several occasions."

"Malfoy hasn't." Ron interrupted.

"No. Voldemort felt that Lucius Malfoy deserved to be punished for failing him in the battle at the Ministry at the end of last term. I am sure you are all somewhat familiar with the phrase: 'the sins of the father shall be revisited upon the son.' From what I was able to gather through the Legilimency I performed upon her whilst she was unconscious, Hermione has been subjected to…illusions of a sort. Voldemort caused her to believe that she had a mental illness. She thought that Hogwarts and the world of magic existed only within her sick mind, and in order to recover she had to eradicate Hogwarts, starting with the four of you."

"But what about Snape? Why was she screaming about him?" Ron spat out, his tone venomous as he glowered at Snape.

"_Professor_ Snape, Mr Weasley." Dumbledore replied before being interrupted once more, this time by Hermione.

"He was there. In the other reality. He was the Doctor. He was the one who told me I had to kill you, he said it was the only way for me to get better," she whispered.

"Voldemort no doubt felt the transition of realities would be smoother for you if he incorporated a familiar face into your delusions, you would be less likely to question things if they had what seemed like a logical explanation – Professor Snape became Doctor Snape, an easy leap between the two, and sufferers of illnesses such as the one Voldemort attempted to make you believe you had often incorporate things or people they see everyday into their episodes.

"None of it was real?"

Ron's heart nearly cracked at the soft vulnerability of her voice.

"No my dear. None of it was real. You are at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, surrounded by your friends, and I assure you, magic does exist," Dumbledore smiled sadly down at her, "now, I feel certain that if I do not allow Poppy to administer some medicine and care to you very soon she shall cross me off her Christmas card list." He gave her another smile before ushering everyone else out of the room, allowing Ron a pause to kiss Hermione's lips softly.

Once they had all left she raised a hand to her mouth, still feeling the slight pressure Ron had left there. It felt real. _She_ felt real.

For the first time in what felt like years, Hermione felt calm. She felt safe and reasonably happy. This was what was real. Hogwarts, her friends, her boyfriend.

This was reality.

Smiling gently she took the dreamless sleep potion held out to her by Madam Pomfrey and after a slight hesitation drank it. She wouldn't let what he'd done to her make her fear closing her eyes, because she knew that once that darkness lifted and she woke, she would be back home again.

She would be at Hogwarts.

THE END

A/N - yeah, the ending's a bit sappy, so sue me. i liked it. please review! and even if u don't review, hope you enjoyed it anyway :-)


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